Esteban Ocon raves about his Haas teammate Oliver Bearman: Why the rookie is the best teammate he’s had so far, despite his “hooligan” mentality
Whether it’s Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, or Pierre Gasly: Esteban Ocon has had numerous teammates throughout his Formula 1 career. But Oliver Bearman, with whom Ocon is driving for Haas this season, clearly surpasses all of his previous predecessors.
“We both share the same passion,” Ocon reveals to Motorsport.com, “except that he’s a hooligan! Because he’s young and experiencing a lot right now…“
The Frenchman is referring, among other things, to this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, where Haas celebrated its tenth anniversary in Formula 1. ”[There] we had this competition to see who could bring back the biggest slick tire after the race,“ Ocon grins.
Ocon admits: ”It was pretty funny.“
The winner? Oliver Bearman, whose burnout show even became an internet sensation. ”He just figured out how to outsmart the gearbox computer,“ reveals Ocon. ”He put the rear wheels in seventh gear while driving at just 30 km/h.”
“I would never have had the courage to do something like that,” admits the Haas driver, but he also concedes: “Even if you’re driving at 30, but the rear wheels are doing 280, the car can do crazy things. It was pretty funny to see it all!”
The relationship between the two Haas teammates seems excellent, even though there was once an internal collision at Silverstone. After the race, however, team boss Ayao Komatsu and the two drivers sat down together immediately.
Haas teammates “direct and honest with each other”
The incident was not discussed much in the media either. “I didn’t think about that at all, but that’s actually a good point,” said Ocon when asked if he was surprised that the collision at Silverstone did not escalate like similar situations with Gasly or Perez in the past.
“That’s because we are very direct and honest with each other,” believes the Frenchman. Immediately after the race, they discussed the different conditions: “What we could have done better to avoid this scenario, where we should have been more careful and at which point in the corner.”
“That didn’t change anything at the core. We just learned a little more about what to do in situations like that,” reveals the Haas driver. “It hasn’t changed the relationship I have with Ollie. I probably have the best relationship with him of any teammate I’ve ever had.”
“We get along really well, and it’s nice to have that kind of atmosphere in the team and on the track. Also with the team boss, because sometimes a team boss can be quite detached from what’s happening in the engineering room. With us, everyone is united, and that’s good.”